A Dark Night
by bennettthomas
Summary: A difficult night for Dick


A Dark Night

The usual bumpf none of these characters belong to me I just wanted to play with them for a bit and none of this is for profit and they all belong to the DC universe and Warner Brothers.

This is set soon after Dick first came to Bludhaven, when he is still trying to find his path in this dark and twisted city.

One night before patrol Dick was walking through Bludhaven when a man sitting on a bench called to him:

"Excuse me, sorry to bother you but could you call me an ambulance please things have got bad and I think I'm going to do something stupid?"

Dick sat down next to the man always wary of something like this in case it was a trap. But seeing nothing out of the ordinary and the man did look in distress, he replied:

"What's your name?"

"Kevin Murphy"

"My name's Dick, have you taken anything? I've got to ask because when I call the ambulance they will ask me."

"Nothing yet, things have all gone wrong. Can you help me Dick?"

By this stage Dick could smell the vodka on his breath even in the cold air of the shore front.

"How can I help you Kevin?"

"I just need someone to talk too that's all, can you do that for me please?"

The pleading look in the man's eyes was heartbreaking for Dick so he agreed to listen to Kevin tell his story.

Kevin had been born to a poor family his father left when he was still young. Kevin had spent most of his early life in trouble of one sort or another until after leaving school at sixteen he went down for 6 months for petty theft. This had changed him and after he got out he cleaned himself up and started work at one of the ship yards building ships.

For a while things had been getting good for him he found himself a girlfriend and they were happy and even had a child. This went on till he was thirty when the ship building trade went down and he lost his job, from there it was all downhill he started drinking when he couldn't find himself another job, and eventually he just stopped looking, his girlfriend left him and took the child with her to go and live with her family in Gotham. This was the final straw for Kevin which resulted in him drowning his sorrows and getting more and more depressed as the years went by till he was sitting on that bench overlooking the harbor with Dick, when at the age of fifty three it had all got too much for him when he had been kicked out of his latest hovel.

At this point he had decided to end it all as he believed that his life had no meaning anymore. This is where our young hero comes into the picture.

Feeling his heart break at this story Dick took Kevin by the arm to the nearest shelter and made sure he had some food inside of him and a warm bed to sleep in and promised to check on him the following day he left taking Kevin's pills and vodka to remove the temptation.

The following day Dick came back to the shelter with a mission in mind, that maybe if he could help this one man come back from the brink then maybe this city was worth saving. And also that he was the man to do it.

He spent the day cleaning him up getting a new suit for him and getting a job working at a local store, it was not much but it was a start. He even got him a place to stay.

Over the next few months he would pop in and check on Kevin to see how he was doing, and despite it all Kevin seemed to be doing much better he had stopped drinking and seemed to have his life in order again. This pleased Dick immensely. However soon after he joined the Bludhaven Police Department, Kevin vanished he just never turned up for work that day and when Dick went to check on his flat it lay empty. He searched everywhere for him but there was no sign of him. Dick eventually gave up all hope of finding what had happened to Kevin until one day months later when on patrol with Amy they got a call about a body found on the water front, this was unusual because if it had been a murder that close to the water the body wouldn't be on the land.

When they arrived at the scene Dick found Kevin lying on the same bench he found him on almost a year before with a letter clasped in his cold fingers addressed in Kevin's writing to Dick. Opening the letter with tears brimming in his eyes he read:

Dear Dick

I am so sorry that I'm not strong enough to cope with this life, but things still go wrong for me I can't see appoint anymore, I came here hoping that you would maybe come by and stop me again but you didn't, I've always found it hard to make friends I've never had anyone to talk too.

Thank you for all your help but I'm just not strong like you, I guess it's true you only do get one angel.

I'll miss you

Kevin

At the funeral there was only Dick standing there watching as the coffin is lowered into the ground when a dark shadow passes over him. Turning around he sees Bruce looking at him before Dick can utter a word Bruce turns and walks to the car, with a backwards glance at the men pouring the soil onto the coffin He follows the closest person he had to a father since he was eight. Climbing into the car Bruce turns too him and says,

"I'm sorry Dick but you can't save them all you've got to distance yourself from things like this, because if you don't what we do will drive you crazy"

"I understand Bruce, but I didn't try and save him as Nightwing but as Richard Grayson. That's the difficult thing when I go out at night I'm prepared but this time it was different, it just makes me feel so helpless."

"Dick listen to me, don't beat yourself over this you did the best you or anyone could do you did it better than I would have done that's what makes you better than me. I deal with the Crimes, you deal with the people, and just remember that your parents would be proud of you for all that you've done. I know that because I am."

At this Dick felt the tears creep down his face, as the car pulled away taking him and his father home.


End file.
